Kamal Haasan to meet Muslim leaders Friday

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Last Updated: Fri, Feb 01, 2013 06:45 hrs

Actor-filmmaker Kamal Haasan is likely to meet leaders of the 24 Muslim organisations on Friday who opposed the release of his mega-budget multilingual Vishwaroopam to work out a solution and decide on the fate of the film.

Kamal Haasan and Muslim leaders will meet to decide what cuts should be made to the film so that theatres could screen it in Tamil Nadu, said Chandra Haasan, the actor-filmmaker's brother and partner in Raj Kamal Films International, which produced Vishwaroopam.

"We've submitted letters to the government requesting it to oversee the talks between Raj Kamal Films International and leaders of all 24 Muslim organisations," said Chandra Haasan.

Talks were to take place Thursday between Muslim leaders and Tamil filmmaker Ameer Sultan on behalf of Raj Kamal Films but were called off after both sides decided that the government should mediate.

Both parties agreed to sit and discuss the matter after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Thursday said her government would release his film if Kamal Haasan could reach an amicable solution with the protesting groups.

The Rs.95 crore espionage thriller was originally scheduled to release in Tamil and Telugu on Jan 25. A day before the screenings, the Tamil Nadu government imposed a two-week ban on the film after some Muslim groups complained that some scenes in the film portrayed the community in a bad light.

On Jan 30, a Madras High Court bench chaired by Justice Dharma Rao reimposed the ban on the film and revoked the earlier ban lifted on the film by Justice K. Venkataraman on Jan 29.

"Vishwaroop", the Hindi version of the film released all over India Friday.